Need for Eyeglasses/Contacts

After even a perfect LASIK outcome, it's likely you will need reading glasses sometime in the future. LASIK does not slow the normal aging change in the eye called presbyopia that affects near vision after age 40. This change affects everyone eventually, including people with perfect vision.

In some cases, a LASIK procedure specially designed to address presbyopia and reduce your need for reading glasses is possible. Ask your surgeon for details.

In some cases, LASIK will get your vision to 90 percent of what you want it to be, but obtaining that additional 10 percent may not be possible with an enhancement or simply is not justified, considering the added risks of another surgery.

If you have a little nearsightedness remaining after your primary LASIK surgery, you may find your vision is fine without additional correction for everything except driving at night. In cases like this, a pair of glasses that you use just for night driving is a simple, risk-free solution.

If your vision problems after LASIK appear to be due to irregular astigmatism or higher-order aberrations, ask your eye doctor about hybrid contact lenses. These lenses have the sharp optics of rigid gas permeable (GP) lenses for the correction of these types of vision problems, but they also have a soft periphery that makes it easier to wear hybrid lenses than conventional GP lenses on a part-time basis.

New custom-made soft contact lenses are also available that provide better optics than regular soft lenses for residual vision problems after LASIK.